NETWORK RESET: RETHINKING THE CHICAGO EMERALD NECKLACE
1. Introduction
MAS Studio and the Chicago Architectural Club are pleased to announce the competition: NETWORK RESET, a single-stage international competition that seeks to provide ideas and actions that can reactivate the Boulevard System of Chicago and rethink its potential role in the city.
Proposed by John S. Wright in 1849, the system was envisioned twenty years later when the State Legislature established the South, West, and Lincoln Park Commissions. Also referred as the “Emerald Necklace” since the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, it is composed by a series of streets and parks, some of them designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and William Le Baron Jenney. After the mid-twentieth century, the lack of proper funding, the split of management of the system as a whole (parks would be managed separately from the streets) and the migration of residents to the suburbs were some of the circumstances that accelerated the deterioration of the system. While portions of it, such as the Logan Square Boulevards District (an official city landmark district since 2005) still maintain the original character, other parts have just become underutilized areas and oversized streets that act as barriers within neighborhoods.
That is where we are now and this competition asks you to envision where we can be in the near future. These are some of the questions that we are asking ourselves and we want you to think about in your proposal: What if the system becomes a new transportation corridor in the city? What type of transportation would that be? What if the open space becomes an active layer and not just a passive one? What if this system provides activities that the city as a whole is lacking? What if the system becomes a tool for social cohesion? What if the system has a strong visual identity? What if it becomes an economic catalyst for the neighborhoods? What if the system is all of this and more?
Participants are asked to look at the urban scale and propose a framework for the entire boulevard system as well as provide answers and visualize the interventions at a smaller scale that can directly impact its potential users. Through images, diagrams and drawings we want to know what are those soft or hard, big or small, temporary or permanent interventions that can reactivate and reset the Boulevard System of Chicago.
The results of this competition will be announced in March 2011. A jury of notable professionals and academics will decide a first, second and third prize as well as three honorable mentions. All entries will be published in the forthcoming issue of the design journal MAS Context.
NETWORK RESET is made possible in part by the generous support of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP.
2. Current composition
The Boulevard System is currently composed by the following park and streets:
Parks: Jackson Park, Midway Plaisance Park, Washington Park, Sherman Park, Gage Park, McKinley Park, Douglas Park, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and Lincoln Park.
Streets: Oakwood Blvd, Martin Luther King Jr. Dr, Drexel Blvd, Garfield Blvd, Western Blvd, 33rd Blvd, California Blvd, 24th Blvd, Marshall Blvd, Douglas Blvd, Independence Blvd, Hamlin Blvd, Franklin Blvd, Sacramento Blvd, Humboldt Blvd, Palmer Blvd, Kedzie Blvd, Logan Blvd and Diversey Pkwy.
3. Criteria for evaluation
1. This competition encourages proposals that provide both a compelling urbanistic and architectural response, exploring the relationship between both scales and the opportunities that this approach can generate. This competition is seeking interventions that are understood as part of a larger network.
2. Proposals should address the overlap of the Emerald Necklace and the city systems involved. The Boulevard System of Chicago directly relates and intersects with neighborhoods of different characteristics, open spaces, the Chicago river, streets, highways and public transportation. What are the opportunities in these intersections?
3. This competition is looking for new ways of redefining the public open spaces of the city: how they are conceived, activated and used by the citizens. Considering current economic conditions and the trend of privatizing any public asset that the city owns to reduce costs, we need to think in a new and fresh way about public spaces. Their existance is vital for the citizens of a city and we have the tools to envision succesful approaches and proposals.
4. While the competition looks specifically at the Boulevard System of Chicago, it can also be understood as an exercise to understand obsolete systems in cities in general and propose a new vision that can make them relevant once again.
4. Elegibility
1. NETWORK RESET is an open, anonymous, single stage ideas competition open to all architects, intern architects, landscape architects, students and any person working within any design discipline.
2. Members of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Architectural Club, members of MAS Studio, members of the jury or their families, or those involved with the preparation or funding of this competition may not participate.
3. This competition is to be conducted solely via this website – no additional printed material is available.
4. English is the official language for this competition. All presentation materials and submitted questions should be written in the official language.
5. All drawings and architectural scales should be expressed in feet and inches.
6. The decisions of the jury will be final and unalterable, and they thereby reserve the right to leave any prize vacant, or partially award prizes.
5. Anonymity / Ownership
1. Anonymity will be maintained throughout the competition. No names of team members shall appear on graphic material or in file names. Competitors should choose an identification code of six (6) numbers. This code must appear on each presentation board in 12-point, horizontally oriented type in the bottom right-hand corner.
2. All material received by the organizers becomes their property, including reproduction rights.
3. The intellectual property rights in each project remain the exclusive property of the author(s) of the project.
6. Submission materials
The following material should be submitted:
1: Two (2) horizontally oriented boards @ 24”x 36” (60.9 cm x 91.4 cm) in PDF format
Information to be included on boards, at minimum:
A. Overall urban strategy
B. Diagrams as needed to explain strategy
C. Perspectives to explain solutions
D. Diagramatic plans, sections and elevations to explain solutions
2: JPEG files of all boards at original size (24” x 36”) submitted @ 72 dpi
3: JPEG files of all individual images and drawings
4: A written statement of no more than 300 words in Word format
5: A .doc file titled “teamid.doc”: this file will list the following information:
A. Project title, as used in all submitted files
B. Names and Titles of all members of competition team
C. Team Leader, Telephone, Address, and Email Contact Information
7. Submission process
1. Only electronic submissions will be accepted.
2. In order to ensure that there are no problems sending big files, please send an email with a link to download your submission from an online file sharing software (such as Yousendit, Box...)
3. Your submission should be a single .zip file format. Zip file name will consist solely of a code of six (6) numbers chosen by the team. Example: 123456.zip
4. This code must appear on each presentation board in 12-point, horizontally oriented type in the bottom right-hand corner.
8. Material provided
1. Site photographs
2. Reference maps
9. Questions & Answers
The deadline for competition queries is 12:00 noon (Chicago time), February 4, 2011. All questions and answers will be posted to the competition website www.mas-studio.com.
All inquires should be sent to [email protected].
10. Schedule
Monday January 17, 2011 Competition Launched / Online Registration Opens / Q&A Period Opens
Friday February 4, 2011 Q&A Period Closes
Monday February 21, 2011 Submission deadline / Online Registration and Submission Periods Close
Monday March 14, 2011 Winners Announced
11. Jury
The final composition of the jury will be announced shortly.
12. Prizes
1st Prize: $2,000
2nd Prize: $1,000
3rd Prize: $500
Up to 3 honorable mentions will be awarded.
Along with the prize, awarded teams will be featured in the spring issue of the design journal MAS Context. For more information about MAS Context, please visit www.mascontext.com
13. Entry Fee
Students $40
CAC members $40
Professionals $80
register: www.mas-studio.com/network_reset_competition.html
14. Contact
Please, direct any inquires to [email protected]
All relevant questions will be posted to the competition website.
15. Sponsors
NETWORK RESET is made possible in part by the generous support of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP.
